Dictionary
ELAPHEBOLIA	100.00%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A festival held at Athens in the month Elaphebolion (March-April) in honour of Artemis as goddess of the chase and of game. (See ARTEMIS.
ARTEMIS	100.00%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 The virgin daughter of Zeus and Leto (Latona), by the common account born a twin-sister of Apollo, and just before him, at Delos. The Ortygia (see ASTERIA) named in another tradition as her birthplace, was interpreted to mean Delos, though several other places where the worship of Artemis had long prevailed put forward pretensions to that name and its mythological renown, especially the well-known island of Ortygia off Syracuse. She, as well as her mother, was worshipped jointly with her brother at Delos, Delphi and all the most venerable spots where Apollo was honoured. She is armed, as he is, with bow and arrow, which, like him, and often together with him, she wields against monsters and giants; hence the paean was chanted to her as well as to him. Like those of Apollo, the shafts of Artemis were regarded as the cause of sudden death, especially to maidens and wives. But she was also a beneficent and helpful deity. As Apollo is the luminous god of day, she with her torch is a goddess of light by night, and in course of time becomes identified with all possible goddesses of moon and night. (See SELENE, HECATE, BENDIS, BRITOMARTIS.) Her proper domain is that of Nature, with its hills and valleys, woods, meadows, rivers and fountains ; there amid her nymphs, herself the fairest and tallest, she is a mighty huntress, sometimes chasing wild animals, sometimes dancing, playing, or bathing with her companions. Her favourite haunt was thought to be the mountains and forest of Arcadia, where, in many spots, she had sanctuaries, consecrated hunting-grounds, and sacred animals. To her, as goddess of the forest and the chase, all beasts of the woods and fields, in fact all game, were dear and sacred; but her favourite animal was held all over Greece to be the hind. From this sacred animal and the hunting of it, the month which the other Greeks called Artemision or Artemisios (March-April) was named by the Athenians Elaphe-bolion (deer-shooting), and her festival as goddess of game and hunting, at which deer or cakes in the shape of deer were offered up, Elaphebolia. As goddess of the chase, she had also some influence in war, and the Spartans before battle sought her favour by the gift of a she-goat. Miltiades too, before the battle of Marathon, had vowed to her as many goats as there should be enemies fallen on the field; but the number proving so great that the vow could not be kept, 500 goats were sacrificed at each anniversary of the victory in the month of Boedromion. Again she was much worshipped as a goddess of the Moon. At Amarynthus in Eubaea, the whole island kept holiday to her with processions and prize-fights. At Munychia in Attica, at full moon in the month of Munychion (April-May), large round loaves or cakes, decked all round with lights as a symbol of her own luminary, were borne in procession and presented to her; and at the same time was solemnized the festival of the victory of Salamis in Cyprus, because on that occasion the goddess had shone in her full glory on the Greeks. An ancient shrine of the Moon-goddess at Brauron in Attica was held in such veneration, that the Brauronia, originally a merely local festival, was afterwards made a public ceremony, to which Athens itself sent deputies every five years, and a precinct was dedicated to " Artemis of Brauron" on the Acropolis itself. (See plan of ACROPOLIS.) At this feast the girls between five and ten years of age, clad in saffron-coloured garments, were conducted by their mothers in procession to the goddess, and commended to her care. For Artemis is also a protectress of youth, especially those of her own sex. As such she patronized a Nurses' festival at Sparta in a temple outside the town, to which little boys were brought by their nurses; while the Ionians at their Apaturia presented her with the hair of boys. Almost everywhere young girls revered the virgin goddess as the guardian of their maiden years, and before marriage they offered up to her a lock of their hair, their girdle, and their maiden garment. She was also worshipped in many parts as the goddess of Good Repute, especially in youths and maidens, and was regarded as an enemy of all disorderly doings. With her attributes as the goddess of the moon, and as the promoter of healthy development, especially in the female frame, is connected the notion of her assisting in childbirth (see EILEITHYLA). in early times human sacrifices had been offered to Artemis. A relic of this was the yearly custom observed at Sparta, of flogging the boys till they bled, at the altar of deity not unknown elsewhere and named Artemis Orthia (the upright) probably from her stiff posture in the antiquated wooden image. At Sparta, as in other places, the ancient image was looked upon as the same which Iphigenia and Orestes brought away from Tauris (the Crimea), viz., that of the Tauric Artemis; a Scythian deity who was identified with Artemis because of the human sacrifices common in her worship. The Artemis of Ephesus, too, so greatly honoured by all the Ionians of Asia [Acts xix 28] is no Greek divinity, but Asiatic. This is sufficiently shown by the fact that eunuchs were employed in her worship; a practice quite foreign to Greek ideas. The Greek colonists identified her with their own Artemis, because she was goddess of the moon and a power of nature, present in mountains, woods and marshy places, nourishing life in plants, animals and men. But, unlike Artemis, she was not regarded as a virgin, but as a mother and foster-mother, as is clearly shown by the multitude of breasts in the rude effigy. Her worship, frantic and fanatical after the manner of Asia, was traced back to the Amazons. A number of other deities native to Asia was also worshipped by the Greeks under the name of Artemis. Artemis appears in works of art as the ideal of austere maiden beauty, tall of stature, with bow and quiver on her shoulder, or torch in her hand, and generally leading or carrying a hinds, or riding in a chariot drawn by hinds. Her commonest character is that of a huntress. In earlier times the figure is fuller and stronger, and the clothing more complete; in later works she is represented as more slender and lighter of foot, the hair loose, the dress girt up high, the feet protected by the Cretan shoe. The most celebrated of her existing statues is the Diana of Versailles (see cut). On the identification of Artemis with the Italian Diana, see DIANA.
PHOEBE	75.99%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A special name of Artemis as moon-goddess. (See SELENE.)
DIANA	59.70%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 An ancient Italian deity, whose name is the feminine counterpart of Ianus. She was the goddess of the moon, of the open air, and open country, with its mountains, forests, springs and brooks, of the chase, and of childbirth. In the latter capacity she, like Juno, bore the second title of Lucina. Thus her attributes were akin to those of the Greek Artemis, and in the course of time she was completely identified with her and with Hecate, who resembled her. The most celebrated shrine of Diana was at Aricia in a grove (nemus), from which she was sometimes simply called Nemorensis. This was on the banks of the modern lake of Nemi, which was called the mirror of Diana. Here a male deitynamed Virbius was worshipped with her,a god of the forest and the chase. He was in later times identified with Hippolytus, the risen favourite of Artemis, and the oldest priest of the sanctuary (Rex Nemorensis). He was said to have originated the custom of giving the priest's office to a runaway slave, who broke off a branch from a particular tree in the precincts, and slew his predecessor in office in single combat. In consequence of this murderous custom the Greeks compared Diana of Aricia with the Tauric Artemis, and a fable arose that Orestes bad brought the image of that god into the grove. Diana was chiefly worshipped by womell, who prayed to her for happiness in marriage or childbirth. The most considerable temple of Diana at Rome was in the Aventine, founded by Servius Tullius as the sanctuary of the Latin confederacy. On the day of its foundation (August 13) the slaves had a holiday. This Diana was completely identified with the sister of Apollo, and worshipped simply as Artemis at the Secular Games. A sign of the original difference however remained. Cows were offered to the Diana of the Aventine, and her temple adorned with cows, not with stags' horns, but it was the doe which was sacred to Artemis (see ARTEMIS).
LETO	51.82%
Daughter of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe. According to Hesiod [Theog. 406], she was the "dark-robed and ever mild and gentle" wife of Zeus, before he was wedded to Hera, and the mother of Apollo and Artemis. According to a later legend she is only the mistress of Zeus after he is wedded to Hera; when about to give birth to her children, she is pursued from land to land till at last she finds rest on the desolate island of Ortygia (Delos), which, up to that time, had floated on the sea, but was thereafter fixed firmly on four pillars of adamant. As mother of Apollo and Artemis, she dwells in Olympus. Her devoted children exact vengeance for her on Niobe (q.v.). The giant Tityus, for attempting to offer violence to her, is punished for evermore in the world below. She is for the most part worshipped in conjunction with Apollo and Artemis.
IPHIGENIA	48.68%
Daughter of Agramemnon and of Clytaemnestra, or (according to another account) of Theseus and Helen (q.v.), and brought up Clytaemnestra as her child. When the Greek ships were detained at Aulis by the calm caused by the wrath of Artemis against Agamemnon for killing a hind sacred to that goddess, and boasting that he was superior to her in the chase, the seer Calchas announced that the goddess could only be appeased by the sacrifice of Iphigenia. According to another story, Agamemnon had vowed, before the birth of Iphigenia, that he would sacrifice to the goddess whatever the year brought forth that was loveliest, but had neglected to keep his vow. After a long struggle Agamemnon finally gave way to the pressure put upon him by Menelaus, and sent for his daughter to come to Aulis under the pretext of betrothing her to Achilles. During the sacrifice Artemis substituted a hind for her, and carried her off in a cloud to the land of the Tauri [the modern Crimea], where, as priestess of the goddess, it fell to her lot to offer up as victims all strangers who were shipwrecked on the coast. Orestes, who, commanded by the oracle, had gone there to bring to Attica the image of the goddess, was on the point of being sacrificed by her, when she recognised him as her brother and allowed herself to be carried off by him together with the image. At Delphi her sister Electra wanted to put her eyes out, on hearing that the Tauric priestess had slain Orestes; but was prevented from doing so by her brother's arrival. She is said to have brought the image of the Tauric Artemis to the Attic deme of Brauron, and to have died and been buried there as its priestess. She was even introduced into Attic legend as daughter of Theseus and Helen. In other places also, such as Sparta, the image was shown, and she was regarded as a priestess who had brought it to Greece from among the Scythians. In all probability Iphigenia was originally a designation of Artemis herself, and out of this epithet of the goddess the personality of the priestess was in time evolved. Her grave was also shown at Megara. According to another legend, she is said to have been made immortal by Artemis, and to have lived on in the island of Leuce as the wife of Achilles under the name of Orsilochia.
CYDIPPE	48.29%
The heroine of a very popular Greek love-story, which was treated by Callimachus in a poem now unfortunately lost. The later Greek prose romances were founded upon this version. Cydippe was the daughter of a well-born Athenian. It happened that she and Acontius, a youth from the island of Ceos, who was in love with her, had come at the same time to a festival of Artemis at Delos. Cydippe was sitting in the temple of Artemis, when Acontius threw at her feet an apple, on which was written, "I swear by the sanctuary of Artemis that I will wed Acontius." Cydippe took up the apple and read the words aload, then threw it from her, and took no notice of Acontius and his addresses. After this her father wished on several occasions to give her in marriage, but she always fell ill before the wedding. The father consulted the Delphic oracle, which revealed to him that the illness of his daughter was due to the wrath of Artemis, by whose shrine she had sworn and broken her oath. He accordingly gave her to Acontius to wife.
BRITOMARTIS	45.86%
A Cretan goddess, supposed to dispense happiness, whose worship extended throughout the islands and along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Like Artemis, with whom she was sometimes identified, she was the patroness of hunters, fishermen and sailors, and also a goddess of birth and of health. Her sphere was Nature, in its greatness and its freedom. As goddess of the sea she bore the name of Dictynna, the supposed derivation of which from the Greek diktyon ("a net") was explained by the following legend. She was the daughter of a huntress, much beloved by Zeus and Artemis. Minos loved her, and followed her for nine months over valley and mountain, through forest and swamp, till he nearly overtook her, when she leaped from a high rock into the sea. She was saved by falling into some nets, and Artemis made her a goddess. She would seem originally to have been a goddess of the moon, her flight symbolizing the revolution of the moon round the earth, and her leap into the sea its disappearance.
CHIONE	34.41%
Daughter of Daedalion, mother of Philammon by Apollo, and of Autolycus by Hermes. She was slain by Artemis for venturing to compare her own beauty with that of the goddess. (See DAeDALION.)
CALLISTO	32.36%
A nymph, the daughter of the Arcadian Lycaon, and a companion of Artemis. She became, by Zeus, the mother of Arcas, the ancestor of the Arcadians. She was'turned into a bear, according to one account by the jealous Hera, according to another by Zeus, who was anxious to protect her from Hera's wrath. In this shape she was slain by Artemis, and set among the constellations by Zeus under the title of the She-Bear. There was another story, according to which Callisto's son was intending to slay his transformed mother while hunting; upon which Zeus set him in the sky under the name of Arcturus (Arktouros), the Watcher of the Bear, and his mother under the name of Arctus (Arktos), the She-Bear. As the stars bearing these names never set, Homer describes them as the only ones which have no share in the bath of the ocean. Later poets, accordingly, invented the further story that Tethys, wishing to gratify Hera, refused to receive her former rival into her waters.
ENDROMIS	30.09%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 A boot of leather or felt, rising as far as the calf or above it, and fitting close to the foot. In front it was open and fastened with straps. It was specially adapted for journeys or hunting, and consequently appears often in representations of Artemis and of the Erinyes. Runners in races too, often wore it. (See ELEUSINIA, fig. 1, and ERINYS.)
WONDERS OF THE WORLD	28.64%
Deprecated: Function split() is deprecated in /www/www-ccat/data/classics/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php on line 64 Seven ancient buildings or works of art, distinguished either for size or splendour: viz. (1) the Egyptian pyramids; (2) the hanging gardens of Semiramis at Babylon; (3) the temple of Artemis, at Ephesus; (4) the statue of Zeus (q.v.) by Phidias, at Olympia; (5) the Mausoleum (q.v.) at Halicarnassus; (6) the Colossus of Rhodes (see CHARES, 2); and (7) the lighthouse on the island of Pharos, off Alexandria in Egypt.
ARETHUSA	28.41%
In Greece a frequent name of springs, especially of one in Elis, and one on the Island of Ortygia in the port of Syracuse, which was supposed to have a subterranean communication with the river Alpheus in Elis. The two fountains were associated by the following legend. As the nymph of Elis, tired with the chase, was bathing in the Alpheus, the river-god fell passionately in love with her; she fled from him to Ortygia, where Artemis hid her in the ground, and lot her gush out of it in the form of a fountain; but Alpheus flowed on under the sea to Ortygia, and so united himself with his beloved one. The story is explained by the likeness of name in the fountains, by the circumstance that Artemis was worshipped both in Elis and Ortygia as Alpheaea, and by the fact that in some places the Alpheus actually does ran underground.
BENDIS	26.94%
A goddess of the moon among the Thracians. She was invested with power over heaven and earth, and identified by the Greeks with Artemis, Hecate, and Persephone. The worship of this goddess wasintroduced into Attica by Thracian aliens; and was so popular that in Plato's time it became a state ceremonial at Athens. A public festival was instituted called the Bendideia, at which there were torch-races and a solemn procession of Athenians and Thracians at the Piraeus.
TITYUS	26.67%
Son of Gaea, a giant in Euboea, who offered violence to Leto, and in consequence was killed by the arrows of her children Apollo and Artemis.. He paid the penalty of this outrage in the lower world, where he lay stretched over nine acres of ground, while two vultures perpetually gnawed at his liver (the liver being supposed to be the seat of the passions).
ALOADAE	25.95%
Sons of Poseidon by Iphimedeia, the wife of Aloeus, son of Canace (see Aeolos, 1) and Poseidon; their names were Ephialtes and Otus. They grew, every year an ell in breadth and a fathom in length, so that in nine years' time they were thirty-six feet broad and fifty-four feet high. Their strength was such that they chained up the god Ares and kept him in a brazen cask for thirteen months, till their stepmother Eriboea betrayed his whereabouts to Hermes, who came by stealth and dragged his disabled brother out of durance. They threatened to storm heaven itself by piling Ossa on Olympus and Pelion on Ossa, and would have done it, says Homer, had not Apollo slain them with his arrows ere their beards were grown. The later legend represents Ephialtes as in love with Hera, and Otus with Artemis. Another myth represents Artemis as slaying them by craft in the island of Naxos. She runs between them in the form of a hind; they hurl their spears, and wound each other fatally. In the later legend they expiate their sins in the lower world by being bound with snakes to a pillar, back to back, while they are incessantly tormented by the screeching of an owl. On the other hand, they were worshipped as heroes in Naxos, and in the Boeotian Ascra were regarded as founders of the city and of the worship of the Muses on Mount Helicon.
NEOCORI	25.36%
The Greek term for certain officials subordinate to the priests, on whom devolved the cleaning and keeping in repair of the temple to which they were attached. In important temples, especially in Asia, the office of a neocorus was considered a distinction by which even the greatest personages felt honoured. In the imperial period of Rome, whole cities, in which temples of the emperors existed, styled themselves their neocori. [Ephesus is described in Acts, xix 35 as the neocorus, or "temple-keeper," of Artemis.]
DINOCRATES	25.31%
A Greek architect, a native of Macedonia, who flourished in the second half of the 4th century B.C., and was thus a contemporary of Alexander the Great. On the commission of Alexander he superintended the foundation of Alexandria, and erected the funeral pyre of Hephaestion, celebrated for its boldness and splendour. He is also said to have restored the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, burnt down by Herostratus. An idea of the boldness of his conceptions may be gathered from the fact that he proposed to represent Mount Athos in human form, with a city in one hand, and in the other a vessel from which the waters of the mountain flowed into the sea.
CARYATIDES	24.53%
A technical term of Greek architecture. Caryatides were female statues clothed in long drapery, used instead of shafts, or columns, to support the entablature of a temple (see cut). The name properly means "maidens of Caryae (Karyai)," a Spartan town on the Arcadian frontier. Here it was the custom for bands of girls to perform their country dances at the yearly festivals of Artemis Karyatis. In doing so they sometimes assumed the attitude which suggested the form adopted by the artists in the statues mentioned above. (See also CANEPHORI.)
ACTAEON	22.06%
Son of Aristaeus by Autonoe, the daughter of Cadmus, of Thebes was trained by Chiron into a finished huntsman. Having either seen Artemis (Diana) when bathing, or boasted his superiority in the chase, he was changed by her into a stag, and torn to pieces by his own hounds on Mount Cithaeron. The hounds looked everywhere for their master, and would not be pacified till Chiron showed them an image of him. His statue was often set up on hills and rocks as a protection against the dangerous heat of the dog-days, of which probably the myth itself is but a symbol.